but republican house speaker john boehner flatly rejected the plan on the table and what he calls the white house's unwillingness to compromise. >> i was just flabbergasted. i looked at him, i said, you can't be serious. i've never seen anything like it. you know, we've got seven weeks between election day and the end of the year. and three of those weeks have been wasted with this nonsense. >> you know, i think right now the best thing to do is for them to come to us and say, look, here's what we think makes sense. we've told them what we think makes sense. what we can't do is try to figure out what's going to be good for them. they have to come tell us. >> house minority leader and democrat nancy pelosi also jumping into the fray. she's renewed threats to bring a middle income tax cut bill to the house floor if boehner refuses to schedule a vote on the cuts this week. we'll keep you posted. >>> for the past six years, you have helped cnn honor the men and women whose efforts in their communities are changing the lives of others. this year you selected a woman from nepal as your 2012